


Baggage

by Kalloway



Category: Gundam SEED Destiny
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 23:51:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17632127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: Athrun returns from the PLANTs after a visit.





	Baggage

**Author's Note:**

> somewhere post-series, 15_minute_ficlets #228. Jul. 5th, 2015.

Athrun looked tired when she met his shuttle, which surprised Cagalli just a bit. The flight wasn't terribly long and she knew Athrun was usually able to doze off on commercial flights. It was a decent time in the PLANTs, if the application on her tablet was correct. So...

"Welcome home," she said as she pulled him into her arms. 

"Home," Athrun echoed before sort of... fixing his posture and briefly hugging her back. "Yeah, sorry..."

"For what?" Cagalli questioned as she took his duffel. "Any other luggage?"

"Not the kind you can carry," Athrun replied with a little headshake. 

Cagalli was quiet a moment as they started toward the spaceport and Customs. It was a nice night - Cagalli never minded small flights where she could walk across the tarmac after. But she'd never asked if Athrun felt the same. Maybe he didn't feel the same about coming back to Earth. 

"How do you know?" 

"Mmm?" Athrun looked over at her and she wanted to hug him again, for longer, and call Kira and tell him to drive the hour from inland to hug Athrun too. They'd make a weekend of it, if they had to.

"How do you know I can't carry it?" Cagalli questioned as they stepped into the spaceport. She had a hoodie on, and cargo pants, but she'd flipped down the hood for long enough to get out to the shuttle and as soon as she stepped back in, a pair of guards quickly flanked them and guided them right on through, bypassing the bleary-eyed line from what Cagalli was pretty sure was a large flight in from somewhere in Europe.

"They put up a memorial for my father," Athrun said softly once they were alone again. "I--"

Cagalli nearly stopped in her tracks. She didn't know what to say; those words weighed a thousand times the weight of Athrun's duffel bag and for a moment, she didn't know how to respond.

"How do you feel about that?" she asked. She'd driven Athrun's car out, parked in the expensive close lot but she didn't really care about that. 

"I don't know," Athrun replied a moment later. "I've been thinking about it the entire way home. I mean-- it was at the spaceport and I saw it on the way out. There was a plaque that talked about all the good he did for the PLANTs and it was right, he did--" 

Cagalli nodded. There was a memorial for her father, after all. She'd never thought to argue he didn't deserve one. But there was one for everyone lost, too, that was much larger and grander. That was more important. 

Reaching over, Cagalli took Athrun's hand in hers and squeezed. They weren't a couple, but she didn't think it really mattered at the moment. 

"Isn't that it, then?" 

"Mmm?"

"A memorial for all the good he did."

"Yeah, I suppose so," Athrun replied after a moment. He squeezed back. 

They walked the rest of the way to the car in silence. But it was a light silence, unlike Athrun's duffel, and a weight they could share.


End file.
